Curse
by Scabior's-Horcrux
Summary: Inside the girls bathroom in the Three Broomsticks, Draco plans to choose the first girl he sees enter alone to take the cursed opal necklace to Dumbledore. But what happens when Hermione Granger walks through the door alone?


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or locations in this. All rights belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. etc. **

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><p>Draco sat there, with his head in his hands as he stared down at the package on floor between his feet. He had been sitting inside of one of the stalls inside the girls bathroom in the Three Broomsticks for over an hour now. He knew he should've made his move by now, but he needed to wait for a girl to enter the bathroom alone. Each time when he think he had a chance, another two or three girls would accompany the other.<p>

_Don't girls by this age know how to go alone? _Draco thought bitterly. Of course they would know how. But the fact that they always needed to stay in packs no matter where they went seemed ridiculous!

Carefully with his gloved hands, he picked up the package from the floor and placed it in his lap. This could be it. This thing that he was holding could finally be his way into getting rid of the old fool without anyone suspecting him. Then his family and himself could finally have their burden be taken off of their shoulders.

He swallowed as he felt the Dark Mark tingle underneath his sleeve.

This wasn't supposed to be for him. The Dark Lord never took someone into his inner circle at his age. Especially not a job like this either. He had only done it to punish his father for his failure to get the prophecy last year at the Ministry. Draco was no fool. He knew everything that was done to him or what he'd been ordered to do, was to punish him family for their failures.

It was all because of the precious _Potter. _Draco's hands clenched but soon relaxed when he remembered what he was holding. Even if his gloves were on, he still felt on edge holding it.

A small creaking sound was made as he heard a girl enter the restroom. He waited for another girl or two to be joined with this one, but he heard no one. Finally satisfied, he took a deep breathe and looked through the crack in the stall and locked the bathroom door with his wand. No one would come in here, thinking it might be out of order with it being locked. That or a couple of people were in here shagging. Draco rolled his eyes at the thought.

His attention was brought back forward when he heard the girl give a low sigh. She hadn't noticed that the door was locked, and she was alone with a Death Eater. She also had no idea that she would be blamed and held responsible soon for the death of the headmaster at Hogwarts. Draco almost felt sorry for the her.

Slowly, Draco stepped out of the stall and stood behind her. She looked oddly familiar. Not in the way that they must share a class or something, but in a way that he actually knew her. He couldn't get a real look at her, she was slightly bent over the sink splashing a little bit of water on her face. Judging by the sounds of her muttering, she wasn't all to happy at the moment.

Then she stood straight up and looked in the mirror. And just as she saw Draco standing behind her in the bathroom, Draco's own eyes widened in shock at the identity of the girl. Before she could raise her wand at him, he quickly pointed his own wand and said, "Imperio!" She then stood there with a blank face and stared into nothing, waiting to hear his commands.

Draco walked closer to her. He couldn't believe it. If this had been his younger self he would've laughed at the luck he had. But now he could only feel something he couldn't quit place. It was Granger that had entered the bathroom on her own. Which wasn't that surprising, since she didn't really have much of anyone to call her friend besides the Weasley's and Potter; and the Weasley girl was in the middle of a snogging session with another boy he noticed when he first walked in the Three Broomsticks earlier.

He looked at her. For the first time since the Yule Ball in their fourth year he was actually paying attention to her appearance. That year she had been outstandingly beautiful, though he would never admit this out loud. He was infuriated that night. A part of him was mad that his date Pansy didn't look half as good as Granger. He was also angry because Granger was a mudblood and his social status would disappear if he so much as compliment Granger, much less than asking her to dance. The rest of the year he had glanced at her. Even though she wasn't dressed up like she was during the ball, she was still gorgeous. After spending the summer back home he had soon forgotten the looks of her and didn't hardly spend much time thinking about her as much since.

Until now. She was so beautiful. How was she single? Despite her being a mudblood, there wasn't much of anything wrong with her. He knew there were a lot of other boys in the school that would date a girl no matter what her blood status was. But why didn't anyone pay attention to her?

_Maybe because no man would want to date a girl that's smarter than him and knows it. _Draco snorted.

Granger's thick brunette hair was still curly and slightly unruly, but it wasn't half as bad as it was during the first few years of school. She had learned to tame it and made it looked presentable. Her skin was slightly pale, but not like his. Even though he couldn't see much of her since she was wearing a sweater. But he could see her neck and face clearly. A few freckles here and there, but other than that she didn't have a single flaw to her. He allowed his eyes to roam over her face then and he was really taken off guard at her appearance. Her chocolaty brown eyes spoke nothing as she still under his curse, but if he looked deeper, he saw a small trace of loneliness in them.

Draco knew that she must've been upset again for some reason to want to come in here alone. How could he blame her for feeling lonely? No one understood her, or shared any common interest with her. Even though she was constantly around the Weasel and Potter, they were both complete idiots. No one would doubt it with the Weasel but everyone thought that Potter was some sort of saint. Draco knew though that it was always her that was the brains between the three of them. She was the source to most of his accomplishments and no one seemed to notice any of this but himself.

Why was he noticing all of this in the first place? He didn't have an answer to that. There was also a small part inside of him trying to tell her that he understood how she felt. Being alone, surrounded by people and some you would calls "friends". But no one around that understood you.

He felt the urge to take her off the curse and take her problems away. He wanted to see the same smile and laugh that he had witness countless times before. That now seemed to be rare.

Draco still couldn't help but wonder how did he know and feel all of this now? As if over time his mind stored the information and was just now giving it back to him?

He placed his wand into one of his pockets and brought his hand to her face and brushed away one of her stray locks back behind her ear. The slight touch between her skin underneath his made his fingertips tingle. He gazed at her perfect pink lips, and held back the deep urge to touch them with his own.

Draco shook his head and grabbed his wand again. He couldn't do that. Not only would something like that could lose him the social status he had worked so hard to gain over the years, but it could also get Granger into trouble herself. She could be shunned by her fellow house mates and also be brought into the danger he and his family were now in. Any fellow Death Eater that knew of even the slightest kiss with her, a mudblood, would result in an execution for he and his family. And then any Death Eater wouldn't blink twice before killing her, who to them wasn't worthy carrying any ounce of magical blood in their her veins.

No. Any kind of attachment to her was forbidden.

From their first year, until now, and for years to come they would always live in two separate worlds. Their fates to never be entwined.

He pointed his wand at her and spoke clearly, "You're going to forget about ever seeing me in this bathroom with you, and you're going to walk right out of here to go get yourself something nice because you deserve to have something nice for yourself." Draco didn't understand himself why he was doing this, sparing her of this burden he could give her if he wanted but didn't. When could he get another chance like this again, a girl coming in here alone, but he was letting her go.

"And you're going to smile and laugh more, because you need too and you want too. Because you deserve to have some kind of happiness for yourself too."

Draco pulled his wand away from her and walked back into the stall he was previously in before, unlocking the bathroom door just as the curse pulled Granger back into reality. He watched her look around confusingly for a second, then shrugged it off as she walked out of the bathroom.

_Why did you have to be muggle-born Granger? _His thoughts echoed as he laid his eyes on Katie Bell, who soon walked into the bathroom, alone.

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><p><strong>AN: My first Dramione fic! It's pretty short, I know. But it came to my mind a few weeks ago and I just now finally decided to write it out and post it. I know that in the HP series Draco had Madam Rosmerta curse Katie Bell into taking the necklace to Dumbledore. But I decided to change that around a little you know? I hope you guys liked reading the fic. Perhaps in the future I'll write more Dramione alongside of Scabmione!  
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**I'm dedicating this fic to my friend, Chynna! I hope you enjoyed reading it twin! **

**Have a wonderful day! **


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